For us here at Mango & Marigold Press, our mission is rooted in the belief that all children deserve to be the hero. But here in the US, we’ve reached the point where we need to articulate that all children have the fundamental right to live and be safe in society.
As a country, we are watching our country grapple its deeply rooted and system racism that has continually harmed the Black community. We stand and listen with our Black community and as a team have committed towards dismantling a system that has adversely harmed a community we owe so much to.
And that starts with breaking down our own biases as South Asians.
As South Asians, we have directly benefited from the Civil Rights movement. We have directly benefited from the myth of the model minority. Too long have South Asians, quietly (and loudly) held anti-black sentiment and truly, it must stop.
For us, we continue to listen, learn, and educate ourselves about how we can actively be anti-racist. We must, we must and will, actively learn and break down our own internalized bias, in order to create a society where all children can live. We also commit ourselves to holding important conversations with our own children because it is never too early to talk about race, racism, and resisting.
So here is what we’ve been reading, to educate ourselves.
Much thanks to Nina Bhattacharya, Gayatri Sethi, and Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walk Tour for many of these links:
- South Asians in America via southasiansmh
- Bringing it Home via theaerogram
- The Revolution Starts with My Thathi via To Speak a Song
- The Making of Asian America, A History by Erika Lee
- The Karma of Brown Folk by Vijay Prashad
- Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian Americans by Vivek Bald
- "Take your School Reform to White Kids…”by N.L Webber
- What Anti-Blackness Looks Like by Gayatri Sethi via Brown Girl Magazine
- South Asians and Black Lives by Deepa Iyer
- South Asians 4 Black Lives
- South Asians for Black Lives: How to Talk to South Asian Parents about Systemic Racism and Our Privilege
- An introduction to our shared history
- Black and Desi: A Shared History
- How to respond to "but why should I care?"
- A South Asian response to the killing of George Floyd
- The California Desis who kneeled for George Floyd
- The Bangladeshi restaurant owners who valued life
- The Indian man who opened his home
- What happened when four Desis asked their parents about #BlackLivesMatter?
- The script for a training on anti-Blackness in South Asian communities:
- South Asians for Black Lives newsletter
Here are some resources to support parents has they have conversations of race with their children:
- How to Have Brave Conversations with Your Kids About Race
- Embrace Race is a great resource for families who want to “raise a generation of children who are thoughtful, informed, and brave about race.”
- Embracing Equity provides equity training to the Wildflower and greater Montessori community. Embracing Equity also provides online adult learning programs in cohort-based and live sessions for parents who seek to grow their own capacity in creating a more just society.
- This Book is Anti-Racist by a Montessori elementary teacher Tiffany Jewel provides “20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work”
- 75 Things White People Can do for Racial Justice is an article full of action steps while people can take in using their privilege to stand up against police brutality.